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Tag Archives: blackboard

The sleeping students on blackboard are actually quite useful! Have you noticed the zzzzz_student in your Blackboard Grade Center. That student allows you to log in and see your blackboard course exactly as a student would. You can figure out how to post on a discussion board or upload documents to Safe Assign as a student. Technology Across the Curriculum has all the explanation you could need in their document on “Top Five Tips for Blackboard Users”. Here is a picture from their document. It links to the entire document. (Or come to my training on Friday.)

Michelle Scholz also blogged here a few months back about her tips and tricks. She included the zzzzz_student. She her other tricks here. What are some of your favorite blackboard tricks and tips?

I’ve posted before about technology and plagiarism. Well, for teachers at Oregon State University, a new Blackboard update has made it even easier to detect plagiarism. Our latest Blackboard upgrade came with “Safe Assign”. You will find this new feature under “Create Assessments”.

Students will submit papers through Safe Assign. Safe Assign then checks the internet and Safe Assign’s database of student papers. It will document what percentage of a student’s paper is unique. It won’t tell you if anything is plagiarized. (Ten percent of the paper could be from other sources, but that information may be correctly cited or simply common phrases.) Safe Assign will, however, help you track down any uncited sources in student papers. It can also show students that they have some questionable areas before they submit their papers. This way students can learn to document their sources correctly without being penalized. Safe Assign will also stop students from sharing old papers with friends as all papers run through Safe Assign are added to its database. I’ll be talking more about Safe Assign on Friday’s training, but this document from OSU’s Technology Across the Curriculum is a great resource. This is one of those pieces of technology that will help (and students) with very little time investment.

Weight grades using categories. So, homework is worth 10% of the grade, but you don’t know how to calculate it. Let blackboard do the work. Information is here and a video is here.

Create a class-wide collaborative dictionary or annotated bibliography using the new wiki feature. The how to information is here.

Embed your PowerPoint presentations using the new slideshare Mash-up feature. The how to information is here.

Enforce the language, so students only use the site in English (via Byrne Brewerton) Here is video describing it.

Create a grammar blog with students where students talk about things they find interesting or complicated in authentic materials. (The assignment is described here. Information about how to set it up is here.)

Stay up-to-date on student performance through the Early Warning System. It can notify you, if a student has logged in awhile, he/she has a low grade, or has not submitted their homework before the due date. The how to information is here.

Prevent cheating on blackboard tests using the timer setting and randomized questions.The how to information is here.

Organize your materials into learning modules. These can be used for class units; it can also be used to create a selection of materials for extra practice. Information about how to set it up is here.